IWSG: Why Do Writers Write?

Throughout my life I have 

considered the question, 

"Why do writers write?"

Most school years,

my third grade students and I would 

brainstorm a list of reasons for writing

and group them into categories:

inform, persuade, entertain.

Source:  wikimedia

Pedestrian ~ but a good jumping off point

for discussing the question with seven and eight year olds.

Recently at the British Museum,

I asked myself the question again 

as I marveled at the most famous cuneiform tablet 

from ancient Mesopotamia.

The Flood Tablet ~ The Epic of Gilgamesh

British Museum

Nineveh, Royal Library of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal

 Reign:  669-631 BC. 

Source:  britishmuseum

This tablet and others

record one of humankind's oldest stories

and the world's first great literary work,

The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Source:  wikipedia

Gilgamesh
Source:  wikimedia (PGN grayscale)

English archeologist Austen Henry Layard

is credited with the discovery 

of the Gilgamesh tablets,

but his Assyrian assistant Rassam Hormuzd

likely found them.

              Austen Henry Layard                           Rassam Hormuzd 

                          Source:  wikimedia                                                                               Source:  wikimedia

The tablets were among thousands

unearthed in the library of King Ashurbanipal

during the excavation of his palace in Ninevah

near modern-day Mosul in Iraq.

Excavation of Nineveh

Source:  wikimedia

Frontispiece of Nineveh and its Remains, 

by Austen Henry Layard, 1849

Procession of the Bull Beneath the Mound of Nimrud

Source:  wikimedia

Winged, Human-Headed Bull

British Museum, London

Although my mother told a young me 

about the haunting Assyrian art in the British Museum,

I don't remember hearing of Gilgamesh 

until I read the epic 

at Cal State Fullerton years ago.

The epic recounts

how Gilgamesh tragically lost

his best friend Enkidu

and went on a quest 

to find the secret of immortality.

Source:  shmoop

I was fascinated with the similarities

between the flood stories 

in Gilgamesh and in the Bible.

I never forgot.

The Deluge, Based on the Story of Noah's Ark

Frontispiece to Doré's illustrated edition of the Bible, possibly 1866

Humans and a Tiger Try to Save Their Children and Cubs

Source:  wikimedia

I wondered then,

Who were the people who created this epic?

Why did they do it?

Standing in front of the Flood Tablet,

I longed to touch the ancient cuneiform

and absorb the thoughts and feelings 

of all who had created, 

recounted, compiled, 

transcribed, preserved, 

and translated this story.

What drove them?

I think storytelling must lie at the heart

of what it is to be human.

Exciting Story ~ Artist Unknown

Provenance: Estate of Clemens Franckenstein (1875-1942)

Source:  wikimedia

And so fellow IWSGers,

I'd love to know,

Why do you write?